Barely a day goes by without news of extreme weather events being broadcast on our television screens or reported in our newspapers, and Europe is currently experiencing a heatwave with temperatures exceeding 40°C recorded in Southwestern France! The pending decision over the future of the Rosebank oil and gas field should be seen through the lens of the escalating climate crisis, which is having such a devastating impact on our planet.
Promises, promises, promises
Labour came to power last year on the back of a promise to be the greenest government ever.
You may remember that its commitment to green investment was shredded from an annual figure of £28bn to around £5bn, due to the parlous state of the economy that Labour inherited from the previous Conservative Government.
When the Tories’ decision to approve Rosebank was judged to be illegal, following an action brought by Uplift and Greenpeace UK, the Scottish Court’s judgement was based on the view that the emissions from burning the oil and gas extracted were “unlawfully ignored” by the regulators.
Labour came to power pledging not to grant any new oil and gas licences. Sanctioning drilling in Rosebank was the brainchild of Rishi Sunak’s previous government, and there lies the inconvenient conundrum for the Prime Minister and Labour.
Does he grant approval for oil extraction from the Rosebank oil and gas field, thereby undermining Labour’s green credentials and rendering Ed Miliband’s position untenable?
The right thing to do
Or does Keir Starmer have the courage of his convictions and refuse approval? In choosing this option, he would be making a radical statement that the UK’s future should be underpinned by a just transition away from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.
Labour’s commitment to a green and sustainable economy needs to be backed up with action.
This government has already ignored the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC) advice to the previous Government, which stated, in December 2020, that there should be no further increase in airport capacity unless it was matched by restrictions at other airports.
The CCC is unequivocal in its advice to government relating to oil and gas, stating in its progress report of 2023, that “…fossil fuel production is not in line with Net Zero”!
Granting approval to this highly controversial oil and gas field would be incompatible with the UK’s legal obligations to become carbon neutral by 2050.
It would also send out a highly damaging, almost dysfunctional message to the world, that, despite its previous promises, the UK is open for business when it comes to fossil fuel extraction.
Albert Einstein famously once said: “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”.
The current Prime Minister has frequently been criticised for not having a dynamic and radical vision for the UK. He could reflect on Einstein’s philosophy.
More on the environment:
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